floating-point accelerator
(FPA) Additional hardware to perform functions on floating-point numbers such as
addition, multiplication, logarithms, exponentials, trigonometric functions and
various kinds of rounding and error detection. A floating-point accelerator
often functions as a co-processor to the CPU.
The term "floating-point accelerator" suggests a physically larger system, often
an extra circuit board, whereas a "floating-point unit" is probably a single
chip or even part of a chip.
(1994-12-01)
Nearby terms:
FLIP-SPUR « floating head « floating-point «
floating-point accelerator » Floating-Point
SPECbaserate » Floating-Point SPECbaseratio »
Floating-Point SPECrate
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